Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 20th September 2024, 1st April 2025, 10th April 2025, 6th November 2025, 8th January 2026 and 5th February 2026 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
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Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 24 – 30, 32, 33 – 37 and 39 – 43 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Huang et al (US 2025/0212079 A1).
Claim 33 (similarly Claims 24 and 39). Huang shows a User Equipment (UE) (fig. 3: UE 350; figs. 4 and 6 – 13: UE) comprising: a memory storing instructions (fig. 3: memory 360); and at least one processor in communication with the memory (fig. 3: controller/processor 359), wherein, when the at least one processor reads the instructions, the at least one processor is configured to cause the UE to: establish a first wireless communication radio link with a master node for data communication ([0114]: the first wireless device may detect whether a first sensing RSRP is less than a first threshold, the first sensing RSRP being associated with at least one sensing signal – at this stage, the first wireless device, e.g. UE, is already connected to an active, e.g. master, base station node, in other words, radio link is established between the UE and the master node); establish a first wireless sensing communication radio link with a secondary node for wireless sensing of an operating environment of the UE in response to an integrated wireless sensing and communication (ISAC) node addition or modification request initiated by the master node towards the secondary node ([0090]: considering the movement of UAVs, it may be beneficial to utilize continuous sensing that relies on the consistent cooperation of multiple base stations/UEs in adjacent cells… it may be beneficial to utilize schemes for sensing handover (e.g. sensing UAVs that may cross a cell border) in an ISAC system; [0116]: the first wireless device may transmit a sensing switch request message for the at least one second wireless device); and perform wireless sensing operations via the first wireless sensing communication radio link in coordination with the secondary node to generate wireless sensing results of the operating environment of the UE ([0112]: base station/UE may transmit, based on the sensing switch request ACK or the sensing switch request NACK, a sensing report for the first wireless device; [0125]: the first wireless device may receive, based on the sensing switch request ACK or the sensing switch request NACK, a sensing report from the at least one second wireless device).Claim 26. Huang shows the wireless communication method of claim 25, wherein the ISAC node modification request is initiated by the master node in response to a second wireless sensing communication radio link previously established between the UE and the master node is inadequate in providing UE operating environment sensing ([0096]: base station/UE may transmit and/or receive a sensing signal wherein the base station/UE may detect whether a sensing RSRP is less than a threshold… base station/UE may transmit a monostatic sensing switch request that includes a number of parameters/measurements (e.g. UAV position, speed, Doppler frequency, micro-Doppler signature, etc.)).
Claim 27. Huang shows the wireless communication method of claim 25, wherein the ISAC node modification request is initiated by the master node in response to the first wireless communication radio link needing assistance from wireless sensing of the operating environment of the UE ([0110]: the sensing switch request ACK may be transmitted if a second sensing RSRP is greater than a second threshold, and the sensing switch request NACK may be transmitted if the second sensing RSRP is less than or equal to the second threshold).
Claim 29. Huang shows the wireless communication method of claim 28, wherein the ISAC node addition request is initiated by the master node in response to a second wireless sensing communication radio link previously established between the UE and the master node is inadequate in providing UE operating environment sensing ([0096]: base station/UE may transmit and/or receive a sensing signal wherein the base station/UE may detect whether a sensing RSRP is less than a threshold… base station/UE may transmit a monostatic sensing switch request that includes a number of parameters/measurements (e.g. UAV position, speed, Doppler frequency, micro-Doppler signature, etc.)).
Claim 30. Huang shows the wireless communication method of claim 28, wherein the ISAC node addition request is initiated by the master node in response to the first wireless communication radio link needing assistance from wireless sensing of the operating environment of the UE ([0110]: the sensing switch request ACK may be transmitted if a second sensing RSRP is greater than a second threshold, and the sensing switch request NACK may be transmitted if the second sensing RSRP is less than or equal to the second threshold).
Claim 32. Huang shows the wireless communication method of claim 24, wherein performing the wireless sensing operations via the first wireless sensing communication radio link in coordination with the secondary node comprising preforming the wireless sensing operations by the UE assisted by the secondary node ([0078]: the UE 404 measures the DL-PRS-RSRP of the received signals using assistance data received from the positioning server, and the resulting measurements are used along with the azimuth angle of departure (A-AoD), the zenith angle of departure (Z-AoD), and other configuration information to locate the UE 404 in relation to the neighboring TRPs 402, 406).
Claim 34 (similarly claims 25 and 40). Huang shows the UE of claim 33, wherein: a second wireless communication radio link has already been established with the secondary node such that the UE has been connected to the master node and the secondary node in a dual connect mode (fig. 8: UE is connected to both cells, namely a master and a secondary node); and the establishment of the first wireless sensing communication radio link with the secondary node for wireless sensing is triggered by the master node sending the ISAC node modification request to the secondary node ([0096]: base station/UE may transmit a monostatic sensing switch request that includes a number of parameters/measurements (e.g. UAV position, speed, Doppler frequency, micro-Doppler signature, etc.)).
Claim 35 (similarly claim 41). the UE of claim 34, wherein the ISAC node modification request is initiated by the master node in response to: a second wireless sensing communication radio link previously established between the UE and the master node is inadequate in providing UE operating environment sensing ([0096]: base station/UE may transmit and/or receive a sensing signal wherein the base station/UE may detect whether a sensing RSRP is less than a threshold); or the first wireless communication radio link needing assistance from wireless sensing of the operating environment of the UE ([0081]: the TRPs measure the A-AoA and the Z-AoA of the received signals using assistance data received from the positioning server, and the resulting measurements are used along with other configuration information to estimate the location of the UE).
Claim 36 (similarly claims 28 and 42). Huang shows the UE of claim 33, wherein: no radio link has been previously established with the secondary node before establishing the first wireless sensing communication radio link such that the UE was previously connected to the master node in a single connect mode ([0090]: one issue of using a communication network to sense a UAV (or other target object) is the short coverage distance when sensing with a single base station or UE); and the establishment of the first wireless sensing communication radio link with the secondary node for wireless sensing is triggered by the master node sending the ISAC addition request ([0096]: base station/UE may transmit a monostatic sensing switch request acknowledgement (ACK) – ACK approves of addition).
Claim 37. Huang shows the UE of claim 36, wherein the ISAC node addition request is initiated by the master node in response to: a second wireless sensing communication radio link previously established between the UE and the master node is inadequate in providing UE operating environment sensing ([0096]: base station/UE may transmit and/or receive a sensing signal wherein the base station/UE may detect whether a sensing RSRP is less than a threshold); or the first wireless communication radio link needing assistance from wireless sensing of the operating environment of the UE ([0081]: the TRPs measure the A-AoA and the Z-AoA of the received signals using assistance data received from the positioning server, and the resulting measurements are used along with other configuration information to estimate the location of the UE).
Claim 43. Huang shows the non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 42, wherein the ISAC node addition request is initiated by the master node in response to: a second wireless sensing communication radio link previously established between the UE and the master node is inadequate in providing UE operating environment sensing ([0110]: the sensing switch request ACK may be transmitted if a second sensing RSRP is greater than a second threshold, and the sensing switch request NACK may be transmitted if the second sensing RSRP is less than or equal to the second threshold); or the first wireless communication radio link needing assistance from wireless sensing of the operating environment of the UE ([0077]: the UE measures the UE Rx-Tx time difference measurements (and optionally DL-PRS-RSRP of the received signals) using assistance data received from the positioning server, and the TRPs measure the gNB Rx-Tx time difference measurements (and optionally UL-SRS-RSRP of the received signals) using assistance data received from the positioning server).
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Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 31 and 38 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huang et al (US 2025/0212079 A1) in view of Huang et al (US 2025/0220685 A1, Huang_2).
Claim 38 (similarly claim 31). Huang shows the UE of claim 33; Huang does not expressly describe wherein the wireless sensing results are reported periodically or on demand.Huang_2 teaches ISAC sensing being reported periodically ([0033]: the sensing node in an integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) system may be allocated with dedicated and interference-free sensing resources in order to transmit and receive on-demand dynamic and periodic wideband sensing signals (e.g. when a target object is discovered or detected)… a wideband sensing signal may be needed to improve delay estimation precision, and a periodical sensing signal may be needed to estimate the Doppler frequency).It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the periodical wireless sensing feature as taught by Huang_2 in the UE of Huang to save bandwidth and power while capturing consistent network environment trends.
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Conclusion
The prior art made of record is considered pertinent to applicant’s disclosure.
Kolen, US 2008/0252445 A1: techniques, apparatus and wireless sensing networks for using wireless sensor modules positioned at different locations to obtain data of a person, an object or a premise and to form a dynamically configurable wireless sensing network where each wireless sensor module is wirelessly connected to the network and can be automatically added to or removed from the wireless sensing network.
Wen et al: Private 5G Networks – Concepts, Architectures, and Research Landscape.
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/XAVIER S WONG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2415 23rd June 2026
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